In the spirit of Tony Bourdain, food as adventure. Try everything twice in case it was made wrong the first time. Eat without fear or prejudice.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Girls Cooking Night: Raw Food

The girls and I had our most ambitious cooking night yet. We decided to make raw foods, as in the "Raw Food" movement. Brownie pointed us to this Green Chefs site for recipe ideas.

We started out with Melissa's delicious fruit and tomato gazpacho, and Kim's whitefish and scallop ceviches.

I made nori rolls which used cauliflower chopped in the blender to mimic the rice.

I think perhaps only brownie and Marian truly followed all the "Raw Food" rules -- nothing over 110 degrees and vegan. Fish, of course... not vegan. Nori... roasted. Dessert... made with honey.

Brownie's lasagna was not only pretty but yummy. The "cheese" was made of pureed pine nuts. The zucchini and tomatoes were sliced so thin to serve as the lasagna sheets. Marian's beet ravioli (also really pretty) had mandolined beets, soaked in olive oil and lemon as the pasta. The "cheese" filling was pureed cashews and seasonings, and a pureed red pepper sauce.

Debbie made desserts. The no-bake cookies were really good. Like cookie batter or peanut butter balls. The carrot cake was so rich and sticky-sweet, we could only eat tiny slivers. I had also made a tofu chocolate pudding. I've made this before with melted chocolate and it's yummy, but to follow the raw rules, I used cocoa instead. It came out soupier and less thick than with melted chocolate -- when the chocolate rechills I'm sure it helps gel up the pudding. Without that, it's just the tofu giving it any body. Maybe a firmer tofu would have helped.